Treefort Announces First Round Of Bands For March Fest, Tix Increase To $159

The team behind Treefort Music Fest has been hyping the first announcement of musicians to play the March festival, and this morning they let the cat out of the bag. It's the fifth year the multi-day event will take over music and arts venues around downtown Boise.

First on the list is Charles Bradley, the funk and soul singer with a James Brown swagger. In this 2013 interview with NPR, Bradley talks about his 62-year-long struggle to be discovered. Boise's own Youth Lagoon is high on the list as well; the project by Trevor Powers will include Treefort as part of the tour for his third album. Austin's White Denim will make an appearance, as will Quilt — a psychedelic rock band NPR Music's Bob Boilen can't get enough of.

Also on this first release is LED, a multi-genre arts project from Boise. The group combines original music with dance, and has created a lot of buzz in the local scene since getting started earlier this year (their first performance was last year at Treefort). To see the full list — so far — click here.

Don't see any bands on the list you recognize? That's kind of the point. Organizers say they want to showcase local bands alongside regional, national and international acts that people might not have discovered otherwise.

Oh and heads-up: if you wanted to buy a ticket at the lowest price and kept forgetting to, bad luck. When the artists were announced at 10:00 a.m. the ticket prices went from $139 to $159 for the five-day festival. More ticket info here.

(Check out the Boston-based band Quilt play a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music.)

Related Content

Boise's Treefort Music Fest is stepping out under a new business model. According to a press release Friday, the music festival received Benefit Corporation (B Corp) certification this summer, becoming the first and only music festival with that status. B Corporations are for-profits where shareholders adhere to missions that include transparency, positive social impact on local communities and environmental consciousness.

If you want to be one of the 200 people to snag a $50 ticket to Treefort Music Fest, you better be poised to hit the “purchase” button on your laptop at 10:00 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning.

Early Bird passes, as they’re called, typically sell out within minutes of their release. Once those are gone, the price of entry will increase to $139. And right before the festival kicks off in March, those passes will jump to $179. That's the most expensive general admission tickets have been in Treefort's five-year history.

It's official: 2015 was a record-breaking year for Treefort Music Fest. In their fourth year, organizers of the five-day long indie event met their goal of breaking even. Sales Director Drew Lorona – who helped found Treefort four years ago – says that financial success ensures the festival will continue in 2016.

"It's the first time that we've had the festival generate enough income on its own as a functioning business to kickstart the next year's festival," Lorona says.